Chapter I: C. MARRITT, District Forester, Ontario Department of Lands and

Forests

It was suggested to me that a paper be prepared on nut culture in Ontario. The Department of Land and Forests of Ontario has not done specialized work on nut culture. The reason for this neglect is not that various members did not realize the importance of nut culture, but that there was always more work on general reforestation and woodlot extension than could be done. The work with nut trees has been along with their general work. We have not, as yet, had a member of the staff who has gone "nutty" over nuts. It is hoped that your meeting here will stir up interest in this worthy subject.

We are very proud in Ontario of the work that has been done on general reforestation and woodlot management. This is a subject that all nut enthusiasts are interested in, and we would like you to know what is being done in Ontario.

The Province of Ontario has been distributing trees free to landowners since 1907. There are three well-equipped tree nurseries, and a fourth is being developed in the eastern part of the province. A fifth nursery has been started in the northwest at Fort William on Lake Superior. The number of trees distributed varies considerably from year to year. The high distribution years were 1939 and 1940, when approximately seventeen million trees were planted each year. During the war years, on account of the labour situation and war activities, the distribution declined to between ten and eleven million trees. This past season, the demand was much larger than the supply. All the nurseries are expanding, as it is anticipated there will be a heavy demand by private planters, and also most of the counties are enlarging the area of their county forests.

The application form for forest trees includes seven evergreens and nineteen deciduous trees. Walnut and butternut are the only nut trees on the application form. Shagbark hickory has also been grown, but not in large enough quantity to include it in the list of available trees. The St. Williams tree nursery near Lake Erie has grown named varieties of walnuts and hickories. These have been given out to interested parties, and, in future years, will further the growing of the more desirable nut trees. About ten years ago, the citizens of St. Thomas planted nut trees two or three feet in height for seventy miles along No. 3 Highway which crosses Elgin County. A large number of these trees have survived.

A large acreage of forest trees has also been planted under the Counties Reforestation Act. Under this act the county purchases the land and the province plants and looks after the plantations for thirty years. The county then has three options _re_ paying back the cost of planting and supervision. All the options are without interest charges. The county forests are largely on light sandy soils that, in most cases, are a liability to the municipalities if they are not growing trees.

The Ontario Government passed an act in 1946 that gave the counties the right to pass a by-law to regulate cutting on privately-owned woodlots. You will be interested to know that eleven counties have passed by-laws to regulate cutting. They are all based on a diameter limit. We realize that a diameter limit is a poor substitute for good forestry practice, but it is better than unrestricted cutting. The diameter limits range from ten to sixteen inches for most trees, and five to six inches for cedars.

Considerable extension work was done on nut growing in the period from 1920 to 1930. Mr. James A. Neilson, an Extension Horticulturist stationed at Vineland, became very interested and located many individual trees and gave numerous lectures on nut culture. A bulletin by Mr. Neilson on nut culture was published in 1925, and reprinted in 1930, by the Ontario Department of Agriculture. Mr. Neilson went to Michigan and did extension work on this subject until his untimely death. Mr. G. H. Corsan has also done considerable work to keep nut culture before the public by writing letters to the different newspapers.

There has always been a large demand for black walnut. The reason for this is the high value placed on this wood and the planting of these trees for shade and nut production, although the consumption of native nuts is comparatively low. The black walnut grew, originally, south of a line from Toronto to Sarnia. It has been planted as far north as Ottawa, and is distributed quite widely in Old Ontario now--being planted largely as shade trees. These shade trees are producing nuts, and with the aid of squirrels, the walnuts are seeding up along fence rows, around farm homes, and in woodlots. Walnut has been observed coming up in a woodlot, and the only possible source is a shade tree half a mile away. The walnut caterpillar defoliates the trees but seldom kills them, although it does lower their value as shade trees.

Walnut has been a favorite species for forest tree planting. It is planted in pure stands and in mixtures. The largest and best known walnut plantation was put out by Sir William Mullock in 1926 on the highway north of Toronto. There are numerous small plantations throughout the province. Foresters in Ontario generally recommend mixing walnut with other hardwoods and evergreens rather than planting in pure stands.

It has been advocated to plant walnuts with white spruce. The idea is that spruce will shade the ground, kill the side branches of the walnut, and help to force the walnuts to grow long slender poles. It is understood, and expected, that the spruce will be ruined, as their leaders would grow into the branches of the walnut. As far as we know, this experiment has not been undertaken.

The butternut tree is found growing naturally farther north than the walnut tree. Its northern boundary is roughly a line drawn from Midland on Georgian Bay to Ottawa. It is widely distributed, but is not in large enough quantity to have commercial value for lumber. An expert wood carver, who is employed by the Department of Lands and Forests, uses butternut largely in his work.

The shagbark and bitternut hickories make up the large percentage of the hickories growing in Ontario. The northern limit of the bitternut is approximately the same as the butternut--that is, Midland on Georgian Bay and Ottawa on the east; while the northern limit of the shagbark is thirty to forty miles south of the bitternut. The pignut and the mockernut hickories are found in the southern hardwood belt along Lake Erie.

The American chestnut was quite plentiful in different sections of the southern hardwood belt. It was valued quite highly for the nuts. It has been killed out by the chestnut blight and it is very rarely that live suckers are seen.

The beech was widely distributed in the woodland of southern Ontario. It has rarely been planted as a shade tree and it is not seeding up extensively in woodlots. There are many stories of hogs being fattened on beechnuts in pioneer days.

The Japanese heartnut has been planted in various parts of the province. A heartnut tree in Bruce County lived through a hard winter that killed many sugar maples and beech in the same area. Nut trees are seeding up in many pastured woodlots in southwestern Ontario. The reason for this is that stock do not relish their foliage as they do the maple, beech and basswood, etc., and because of this, it is likely that nut trees will make up a larger percentage of trees in Ontario woodlots than originally, as it is a sad fact that at least seventy-five percent on the farm woodlots in Ontario are still being pastured.

It is hoped that more interest will be shown in planting nut trees by farmers and home owners. The Department of Lands and Forests is enlarging its staff of Extension Foresters, and no doubt they will include the propagation of nut trees in their extension work.

Nut Growing at the Horticultural Experiment Station, Vineland Station, Ontario

W. J. STRONG

There was very little interest in nut growing in the early days of the Horticultural Experiment Station although back in 1914 a few filberts and Persian (English) walnuts were planted.

The first nut orchard at the Station was set out in 1922 and since then several lots of nut trees have been added from time to time, principally filberts and Persian walnuts. Also a few black walnuts, Japanese heartnuts, Chinese chestnuts, hickories, pecan and several hybrids were planted.

In 1922 twenty varieties of filberts were obtained from a nursery near Rochester, N. Y. These were reputed to be some of the better sorts imported from Germany but when they came into bearing only one was true to name, this being Italian Red. Another un-named variety in this lot (field number 3 R 1 A T 10, 11, 12), proved to be hardy and very vigorous. The nuts were only of medium size but very well filled and of good quality. The rest of these were a nondescript lot of worthless varieties or seedlings and so after a few years nearly all were uprooted and discarded.

At this time (1922) four varieties of Persian walnuts were planted, Franquette, Mayette, Hall and Rush. The Franquette and Mayette have not grown very well here and have given very poor yields. Both Hall and Rush made good growth the first 15 or 20 years from planting but latterly, growth has been poor and yields have fallen off considerably, although this year (1947) there is a very fair crop showing, but with rather much dropping. The nut of the Hall variety is quite large but the husk is thick and the shell is thick and coarse, also in some seasons the kernel has not filled out very well. The Rush has given good crops of medium-size nuts. It seems to be rather susceptible to bacterial blight.

Five named varieties of black walnuts also were planted at this time (1922), Thomas, Ohio, Stabler, Ten Eyck and McCoy. The Thomas has proven to be the best of these and the value of the others was pretty much in the order named. The last two were quite inferior as to nut, while the Stabler lacked vigour and did not yield very well, although it is a nice nut and the kernel comparatively easy to extract.

Eight Persian walnut seedlings in the same plantation, set out in 1926, have made poor to fair growth. They have given very few nuts until this year (1947) when two of them are showing a very fair crop.

About 1928 twenty Japanese walnuts and hybrids with the butternut, and about the same number of Persian walnut seedlings, which have been brought in by the late Professor Jas. A. Neilson, were transplanted to the permanent fruiting positions. The Japanese walnuts and hybrids were worthless and so were discarded. The Persian walnuts, however, seemed to be of more value, several are quite nice nuts and one, at least, looks to be worthy of increase for further trial or limited distribution. This seedling (field number 13R3T14) has made very fair growth and has shown only slight winter injury. For the last five or six years it has given moderately good yields of very nice looking nuts. The nuts are large, rather long and oval, resembling somewhat the Franquette. The shell is smooth and moderately thick, well sealed but easy to crack. Usually they are quite well filled and the kernel is mild in flavour and of nice quality.

Another Persian walnut, set out about the same time, is the McDermid. The original tree was found on the property of a Mr. McDermid at St. Catharines, Out. One grafted tree and four seedlings were planted on the Station grounds. They grew well and showed very little killing back and for several years gave quite nice crops of nuts, but of recent years the yield has been rather small. The nut is blunt-oval in shape and of good size with a fairly hard shell which is well sealed but not any too easy to open. The quality is fairly good but the pellicle is rather strong flavoured.

The year 1936 may be considered the high water mark in nut planting at the Station. A variety block of filberts was set out that year and fifty one-year-old Persian walnut seedlings (Carpathian strain) were planted in a nursery row, and in permanent location in 1937. The filbert planting consisted of from three to nine bushes each of twelve varieties, including Aveline (white), Barcelona, Bixby, Bolwyller, Buchanan, Cosford, Daviana, Du Chilly, Medium Long, Red Lambert (?) and Jones hybrid. These were planted in a compact block, 18 feet apart each way on the square. A lesser distance no doubt would be sufficient for upright growing sorts like Du Chilly but some of the more spreading kinds can use the greater distance.

Most of these filberts started to yield a few nuts at five to seven years from planting and at nine or ten years were giving good crops. Yields have fluctuated considerably from year to year, and also between varieties and different bushes of the same variety. Yields obtained from individual ten-year-old bushes and size of nut are given in the following table.

Quarts[2] Pints, nuts Size of nut
Name (with husks) (without husks) No. per pint

Barcelona 11 8 101
Bixby (1) 11 9 130
Bixby (2) 22 12 148
Daviana (1) 10 6 94
Daviana (2) 11 7 90
Du Chilly (1) 20 11 93
Du Chilly (2) 17 12 92
Medium Long 11 8 115

[Footnote 2: Canadian measure.]

Higher yields have undoubtedly been obtained from other plantations and from other individual bushes and certainly lower yields, also, may be expected. Those given above are for 1946 from the best ten-year-old bushes in a plantation of forty plants.

Yield and size of nut while of major importance are not the only criteria for appraising the value of a nut variety. In filberts, such points as ease of husking, amount of fibre and, of course, quality must be considered. Also, as in other nuts, thickness of shell and proportions of kernel to shell are quite important. Vigour and hardiness of bush and hardiness of flower, male and female, are assumed, as without these high yields are not to be expected.

Most of the filbert varieties in bearing at the Horticultural Experiment Station with a few of their outstanding qualities are noted below.

Barcelona has a rather thick shell and too much fibre. It matures early, first week of September, and the nuts drop out of the husk fairly readily. The plant is strong and vigorous and somewhat spreading in habit of growth. It appears to be hardy.

Du Chilly is not always hardy and it is difficult to husk. Some bushes of this variety have given quite low yields.

Medium Long is a useful nut. It is not as large as the former two, but it fills well and there is very little fibre; also the shell is thin. It ripens somewhat later than Barcelona and is easy to husk.

Bixby is of medium size, somewhat pointed with a medium thick shell but almost no fibre. It is late in maturing, first week of October, and does not husk readily.

Daviana is a large, attractive nut with a moderately thin shell and has very little fibre. The quality is good. The nuts are mostly borne singly but with some pairs and they are apt to cling to the husk.

Cosford is a very nice nut. It is similar to Medium Long, somewhat smaller and of good appearance. It has a thin shell and is of good quality. It ripens early and separates readily from the husk. Perhaps not always hardy.

Bolwyller is hardy, yields moderately well and has nice quality.

Buchanan, much like Bixby, but a more vigorous grower. Rather difficult to pick. The nut has good quality and very little fibre.

Italian Red, one of the best but not hardy.

The filbert plantings have been added to from time to time. In 1942, 200 open-pollinated seedlings of the hardy seedling (3R1AT 10, 11, 12--1922 planting) were set out and are now (1947) beginning to bear a few nuts. The main purpose of growing these seedlings is to find a larger nut of good quality with the vigour and hardiness of the female parent.

In 1944 a bush each of Beethe, Buchanan, Luisen and Volkugel varieties were set out, also bushes of the following hybrids:

Rush x White Aveline No. 21

Rush x Kentish Cob No. 110 and 111

Rush x Barcelona No. 157 and 159

Rush x Bolwyller No. 200

Rush x Red Lambert No. 394 and 398

Rush x Du Chilly No. 485 and 555

Rush x Daviana No. 529 and 521

This material was supplied by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for test purposes. So far none of these has come into bearing.

The seedling Carpathian walnuts (1937 planting) are nearly all bearing a few nuts. Some began in 1943 while other bore nothing until several years later. One tree in 1946 gave six pints of nuts, without the husks, another four pints and several two pints, but most of them much less. As in other seedling trees there is much variation in this lot of walnuts. They vary considerably in habit of growth and vigour, also in nut characteristics. They have shown little or no winter injury. It is too early yet to pass judgment on these seedlings. Undoubtedly many of them are worthless, others are on the border line, and a few may be better than seedlings already growing in the Niagara fruit belt. It is possible that some may have sufficient hardiness for planting in the less favoured sections of Ontario.

Other types of nuts growing at the Horticultural Experiment Station are of general interest. The chestnuts and most of the pecans are very young and so are not bearing. Several hickories, =Carya ovata= and =C. laciniosa=, and Japanese walnuts bear some nuts occasionally. The Persian walnut x black walnut hybrids bear a few nuts sometimes but are worthless; the trees however, are nice as ornamentals. The Japanese walnut x butternut hybrids usually have a nice crop but the nuts are of questionable value. The trees are nice ornamentals although subject to wind injury.

Several seedling Chinese chestnuts were topworked to selected Chinese chestnuts, grafts of which were obtained from the Division of Forest Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately these were all destroyed at the result of construction work.

In addition to plantings made at this Station, nuts and nut seedlings have been distributed to people who wished to grow a few nut trees on their own places.

Cultural practices have been very simple at the Station. After planting, the trees were cultivated for a year or two, then the space between sown to grass and clover and the space just around the trees was mulched with manure, hay, etc. The grass is cut several times a year and placed around the trees as additional mulch. Small quantities of a good commercial fertilizer such as 4-8-10 have been applied occasionally and some nitrogen also has been used.

Pruning has been reduced to a minimum, a light thinning out of branches being given as required. Very little attempt has been made to keep filberts to a single stem, but the walnuts have been kept to a single low-headed trunk.

There has been a marked increase in interest in the planting of nut trees in Ontario since the first plantings were made at the Station. These Station plantings serve to demonstrate in a small way that nut trees can be grown in the Niagara fruit belt of Ontario. The feasibilty, however, of growing nut crops in a commercial way, even in this district, is still open to question, although it is felt that farmers and others should be encouraged to plant a few nut trees on their property both for the sake of the nuts and because of the ornamental nature of the trees.

Soil Management for Nut Plantations in Ontario

J. R. van HAARLEM, Horticultural Experiment Station, Vineland Station, Ontario

Fruitgrowers with high priced land, such as we have in the Niagara Peninsula, are not much interested in using such land for a crop not yet proven commercially sound. Plantings, whether large or small, are likely to be made on low-priced marginal land needing good care. It is doubtful if these locations are best suited to proper nut culture since most nut trees are deep rooted with extensive root systems requiring the best soils.

At the Vineland Station we have three plantations made up of 110 walnuts, 240 filberts, 14 chestnuts and 6 pecans. These comprise named varieties and seedlings of black, Carpathian, and other Persian walnuts, filberts, chestnuts and pecans.

During the first years of the life of these plantations we maintained a clean cultivation program during the spring and early summer followed by the planting of a green-manure crop about July 1st each year. Such crops as buckwheat, millet, rye, and weeds, have been used on occasion. We soon found that the treatment was not good enough for the trees and we then changed to a grass sod with mulch around each tree within the spread of the branches. Since this sod-mulch treatment was applied the trees have done very much better, making fine growth and maintaining a large leaf area of good color. This treatment is fairly representative of the many trees planted in dooryards under sod conditions, where the grass is cut and left on top.

Most of our Ontario soils are deficient in organic matter and, depending on location, deficient in phosphate or potash, or both together. The mineral deficiency should first be corrected by liberal applications of the required fertilizer before placing the plantations in sod, in fact it would pay to do this several years before setting out the trees, growing alfalfa on this land and returning all the hay back into the soil. For plantations already set out these minerals could be placed in a furrow cut just under the outer spread of the branches. Our soils have a high fixation factor for phosphate and potash and we have found that the best practice is to place the fertilizer under the surface either with a deep-placement machine or as outlined above.

After the plantation is in sod an application of 500 to 1,000 lbs. of a 4-8-10 fertilizer every fifth year should take care of the mineral requirements. However, our experience with fruit in general where planted in sod is that not sufficient care is taken to keep the trees well supplied with nitrogen, many growers laboring under the mistaken idea that just the sod is sufficient. Liberal applications of either manure or nitrate in the spring is necessary to make sure that the tree gets its required nitrogen and not just the sod alone. Mineral fertilizers should be applied in the late fall, for under our conditions fixation of phosphate and potash is considerably less at that time. The plantation may be seeded down in the early spring but mulch should not be added until late fall. Applying the mulch in late fall will allow the material to fill up with water from the fall rains and winter snows, and so prevent the serious withholding of water from the trees during dry spells in the summer, because the light summer rains are seldom sufficient to soak through the dry mulch material. We have had several instances where a summer-applied mulch has seriously robbed the tree of needed moisture during dry weather. Do not look for immediate improvement from sod-mulch, it will take at least two years to become well established. Improvement should begin to show up the second year after applying.

We sometimes see a chlorotic condition of the foliage, different from the pale yellow foliage due to nitrogen deficiency, which occurs on marginal or shallow soil and often where the soil remains too moist, as along a water course or low spot. We frequently see this same trouble on grape foliage in such locations. This is probably due to a lack of sufficient iron intake caused by a deficiency of manganese. It can be cured by either spraying with a 1% solution of magananese sulphate or applying the dry salt under the spread of the branches. The spraying method seems to give better and faster results.

It has been reported from British Columbia that some die-back is due to deficiency of boron. Perhaps some of the die-back we see on nut trees during the summer is due to this cause and not all to winter injury. The very erratic results from ground application of borax would indicate that borax should be incorporated with one of the regular sprays as a 1% mixture.

Our conclusions therefore are that nut plantations should be placed in sod as soon as possible and a mulch established the fall of the year the grass is sown. Each year cut the grass and draw in around the tree to supplement the mulch. If not enough material is gathered in this way it can be supplemented by straw or old hay. Manure or nitrate should be applied each spring and trace elements where needed can be incorporated in the regular spray program.

* * * * *

Discussion after J. R. van Haarlem's paper.

Dr. MacDaniels: "I realize that there are more trees which are starving to death than are being overfed."

Silvis: "Do you recommend that freshly cut hay be used as mulch?"

Van Haarlem: "Any crop refuse can be used as mulch. Anything that will rot down. The pH of the soil should be 6.2 to 6.5."

O'Rourke: "Would you use clean cultivation for the first year?"

Van Haarlem: "There is nothing against it. We use sod mulch at Vineland. The reason that our growers are not growing nut plantations is that good land, that is good soil, sells for $1,000 per acre. Nut trees grown on poor land, cheap land, do not produce."

McCollum: "I am surprised that rain would not go through loose straw and will go through old straw. Where does the rain go when it falls on the loose straw?"

Van Haarlem: "It is absorbed before it gets through the straw. Dry mulch should be 18 inches deep."

Member: "How would you prevent erosion on rolling land?"

Van Haarlem: "Plant on the contour."

Dr. Crane: "How often do you renew mulch under trees?"

Van Haarlem: "After first application additional may be needed but after that enough is grown under trees which when cut and raked will suffice."

Report from Southern Ontario

ALEX TROUP, Jordan Station, Ontario

Here in southern Ontario we find that most of the northern nuts do well in most seasons. Among black walnuts the Thomas, Ohio, and many others do well. The Thomas does not always fill. The Ohio seems to be the favorite among Persian (English) walnuts. Franquette, Broadview and a few others are satisfactory but sometimes do not fill well. Of Japanese heartnut walnuts nearly all do well. The Mitchell, Stranger, Bates and others are satisfactory.

All the shagbarks and shellbarks are doing well, although only the young shagbarks are bearing, and then only lightly.

Chestnuts have done well at times but some trees have been killed by the blight. We have Japanese, Chinese and some other seedlings. They are sometimes winter injured.

Filberts are satisfactory and usually bear well. We have Barcelona, Du Chilly, Troup, White Aveline, Italian Red, Kentish Cob, Daviana, Mosier, Guy Smith, Nonpariel and Brixnut. The Barcelona drops nearly free of the husk and is a fine nut. Most are of this variety. We do not have hazels.

Pecans will grow and bear but do not fill.

Nut Trees Hardy at Aldershot, Ontario, Canada

O. FILMAN, Aldershot

During the past nine or ten years I have planted a few trees of some of the better known varieties of northern nut species, some of them chosen from the lists of promising selections in the annual reports of the Northern Nut Growers Association, some on the recommendation of reliable nut nurserymen. These trees have been planted here and there in various locations where space permitted on a small fruit and vegetable farm, not in orchard form nor in a solid nut tree planting.

Editor's Note: Anyone reading this paper should remember that it applies to an area of intensive growth of peaches, pears, and other fruits in a bit of Canadian land west of Niagara Falls and protected spring and fall from extremes of temperatures by Lake Ontario on the north and Lake Erie on the south. The paper by H. L. Crane in this report should be read in connection with it.

Aldershot is a fruit and vegetable growing district, about six miles from Hamilton, below the escarpment, on the Toronto-Hamilton lake shore highway. This district is almost at the western tip of Lake Ontario and is more or less a continuation of the Niagara fruit belt which borders the lake. Consequently the climate is not so severe as that of localities situated a few miles farther from the lake and above the Niagara escarpment at higher altitudes. Winter temperatures seldom go much below zero, although, in occasional seasons, temperatures of-20 degrees F., and sometimes even somewhat lower, are experienced.

The soil is a deep, well-drained, light sandy loam, known as Fox sandy loam, considered a good fruit and vegetable soil, if organic matter and fertility are maintained with manure, fertilizers and green manure crops.

Nut trees, which I have planted, include Chinese chestnut, heart nut, filbert, hickories, butternut, Persian walnut, a few black walnut seedlings and two seedling pecans.

=Chestnuts.= The native chestnut grew in the woods of this locality before the blight reached it. I have tried eight varieties of Oriental chestnuts, and I have trees surviving of five: Abundance, Hobson, Carr, Zimmerman, and one of Mr. Carroll D. Bush's called Chinese Sweet No. 3. They all came through a temperature of about-20 degrees, early in 1943 (with the exception of Zimmerman which was planted later) without showing any sign of killing back or other visible injury. Unfortunately, I have kept no records of crops but expect to do so.

=Abundance.= One bearing tree, purchased from Mr. Bush of Oregon, and planted in the spring of 1938. Bore a few burs in 1941. Bore a crop in 1944, missed 1945, a good crop in 1946. It is bearing what appears to me to be quite a heavy crop this year, 1947. Blossoms in July. Bears a good-size, attractive nut, which falls free from the bur, ripening in early October. Abundance has made the best growth of any of the varieties and appears the most promising.

=Hobson.= Two trees, one, planted in 1940, bore its first crop in 1946; the other, planted in 1943, not yet bearing. Has been a little disappointing, in view of the very favourable reports of its performance in more southern locations in the United States. Probably it is a little too far north of its natural environment. In some seasons it has made rather good growth, but not as vigorous as that of Abundance. It bore a fair crop in 1946, however, of attractive nuts of about the same size as Abundance. It ripened in late October about two weeks later than Abundance. These nuts germinated well this spring when planted in pots in the greenhouse.

=Carr.= One tree surviving, planted in 1940. Two others, planted in 1943, have died, but I do not believe that winter injury was the cause of their death. Has grown slowly, bearing in 1944 and 1946. The nut is much smaller than that produced by the same variety at more southern latitudes, judging from descriptions of it which I have read. The nut is much smaller than that of Hobson, as grown here. This small tree bore a tremendous crop in 1946, more than I thought any tree of its size could support. The tree was literally covered with burs. The nuts were very small, not larger than a small native chestnut. They ripened early, beginning to drop from the burs by September 25th. I stratified most of the nuts in pots of soil and planted 206 nuts from this little tree, which is only about seven feet high and not at all spreading. Germination was good.

=Zimmerman.= One small tree planted spring of 1945. Not bearing yet. Is not growing fast but appears healthy with good foliage.

=Chinese Sweet No. 3.= Purchased from Mr. Bush in 1938. Planted at the same time as Abundance, which Mr. Bush at that time called Chinese Sweet No. 1. He later named No. 1 Abundance, but did not consider No. 3 worthy of naming. Has grown well, but has borne very few nuts. Mr. Bush discarded it for the same fault. [See comment following.--Ed.]

I have also tried and lost the following varieties: Connecticut Yankee, Austin Japanese and Stoke hybrid.

I have quite a number of young seedlings of Abundance, Carr and a few of Hobson, from seed produced on my own trees, some of which I hope to allow to bear in order to see if anything promising shows up among them. The Abundance seedlings seem to inherit the superior vigour of their female parent.

=Heartnuts.= The Japanese walnut grows vigorously. I have planted a few of Mr. J. U. Gellatly's varieties, as well as the Wright heartnut. All of the ones planted seem perfectly hardy and at home. I have only one tree of each variety.

=O.K.= From J. U. Gellatly, planted in 1942. Transplanted 1944. Bore its first nuts, one cluster, in 1946. Cracking and extraction of kernel were excellent. The flavour was fine. Size of nut about medium.

=Okanda.= From J. U. Gellatly, 1942. Said by Mr. Gellatly to be a hybrid between heartnut and native butternut. Tree vigorous. Nut has a smooth shell like a heartnut. Cracking and extraction good. Flavour excellent. Nut about size and shape of a medium-sized heartnut. Bore its first crop in 1946 and is repeating this year with a fair crop.

=Crofter.= From J. U. Gellatly, 1942. Also said by Mr. Gellatly to be a hybrid between heartnut and butternut. Tree vigorous. Bore its first crop in 1946 and has a few nuts this year. The nut has a comparatively smooth shell like a heartnut, is somewhat larger than that of Okanda but does not crack as well, or rather the kernel does not come out of the cavity nearly so well as that of Okanda. Flavour fine.

=Canoka.= From J. U. Gellatly, 1944. A pure heartnut. Tree very vigorous. Bearing its first crop this year, several clusters.

=Slioka.= A new heartnut from Mr. Gellatly, planted in 1945. Tree growth is vigorous. Is bearing one nut, its first, this year.

=Wright.= From Benton and Smith nurseries 1946. Seems to be hardy. Tree growth has not been very strong but appears healthy.

=New, un-named heartnut.= From J. U. Gellatly, planted in the spring of 1944. A new selection which Mr. Gellatly has not named. The tree has grown vigorously and it is bearing its first crop of several clusters of nuts.

=Butternuts.= I have only one grafted butternut tree, a Crax-ezy, from the Michigan Nut Nurseries in 1940, transplanted in 1942. The tree has been hardy and healthy but has not grown very vigorously. It is bearing its first crop this year.

I had one tree of the Sherwood butternut, planted in 1938, which died last winter as a result, I believe, of a heavy infestation of oyster shell scale which I did not control soon enough. Sherwood bore early and heavily. The nut was extremely large but did not crack at all well.

=Persian walnut.= Only one grafted tree, a Broadview, from Mr. Gellatly, planted in 1942, transplanted in 1944. Has been hardy, but has just begun to make really good growth, this year. Has not borne.

=Filberts.= I have planted four of Mr. Gellatly's varieties, namely Craig, Brag, Comet and Holder, as well as Barcelona, Cosford, Medium Long and Buchanan. Craig and Brag are the only ones which have borne. Trees of those varieties planted in 1942 bore their first crop in 1946. They have very few nuts on them this year. All varieties seem to be winter-hardy in the wood. Craig, Brag and Comet, the only ones which have borne staminate flowers do not seem too hardy in the catkins however. Nearly all were killed, last winter, although the temperature scarcely went as low as zero. Mr. Gellatly states that their catkins survive much lower temperatures than that in the west. Some other factor than low temperature probably is accountable. (See paper by H. L. Crane in this report.--Ed.)

Cosford, Medium Long and Buchanan were planted in the fall of 1946, and hence it is too early to have any information on their hardiness. They survived their first winter in good condition and have grown vigorously this summer.

=Hickories.= Only three grafted trees surviving.

=Pleas hybrid.= One tree, planted in 1938, has been perfectly hardy, having come through several severe winters without any sign of injury. It has made good growth and has developed into a fine shade tree for the lawn but has not borne. It has had many staminate catkins for several years.

=Barnes.= One small tree, planted in the spring of 1946, has made slow but healthy growth and appears to be hardy thus far.

=Miller.= One tree, planted in 1946, is still living but very weak.

In addition to these named varieties I have a number of seedling black walnuts, butternuts and heartnuts, which I hope to topwork to named varieties; also two seedling pecans which are making surprisingly good, thrifty growth. The pecan seedlings have been quite hardy.

* * * * *

=Discussion after Mr. Filman's paper.=

Stoke: "Hobson is not as large as Abundance. Abundance is always larger than Hobson. Carr always produced better nuts than Hobson. Mr. Filman finds that Carr has very small nuts. I am surprised to see a reversal of performance between Ontario and Virginia."

McDaniel: "Mr. Bush now reports that his No. 3 chestnut has borne better crops recently. Abundance has not survived in TVA tests at Norris."

Report from Echo Valley, 1947

GEORGE HEBDEN CORSAN, Islington, Ontario

The Northern Nut Growers Association visited Echo Valley, Islington, Ontario, September 5th on the field trip following their annual convention at Guelph. Some 15 species of nuts and nearly 400 varieties are growing there. The filberts drew a lot of attention, as the most of them were seedlings and quite large, some larger than the largest Oregon varieties. The seeds planted were: Italian Red. Du Chilly, Giant de Halle, Brixnut, Bollwyller, Cosford, Daviana, and Jones No. 1 Hybrid. The policy followed has been not to discard a plant because it bears small nuts or no nuts at all, because such trees may bear hardy catkins that live through the winter. The female blossoms of filberts are very hardy but many male blossoms may be killed during cold winters.

Years ago the Dominion Department of Agriculture declared that filberts, chestnuts and Persian (English) walnuts could not be grown north of Lake Ontario. I would grant that they grow better south of the lake. However, the filbert crop this fall south of the lake was very poor and scanty, whereas mine was large and in fact the largest I ever had. My Winkler and Rush hazelnuts are crowded on the branches. And the same with the English walnuts. My crop on the larger trees could not be better. The Thomas black walnut, as well as other black walnuts, Jap heartnuts, hybrid butternut x Japanese heartnut cross, chestnuts and hickories are very large.

Hicans and northern pecans do not develop north of Lake Ontario. Down in the very southwest corner of Ontario, north of Lake Erie, some small pecans have cropped well on trees. As a curiosity pecan trees are quite hardy here, but we lack length of season to mature the nuts properly. No Weiker hickory hybrid crops and ripens well here. This nut is one of the very few crosses between shellbark and shagbark hickories, (=Carya laciniosa=) western and (=Carya ovata=) eastern, hickories.

I have some crosses between the Chinese and Japanese chestnuts that I am watching. I have one European x American cross chestnut, the Gibbons, and one native (=Castanea dentata=) that have escaped the blight. So far this year I have found only one blighted chestnut limb and I promptly cut it off and tarred the cut well.

At least I have persimmons hardy enough to stand the winters north of Lake Ontario, but I am not sure about the pawpaw. This fruit seems to require shade from the winter's sun.

Many but not all of the Crath importations of Persian walnuts from the Carpathians are hardy and much more so than the Pomeroy varieties. Even the Broadview is not hardy as many of the Crath varieties. Rev. Crath did an immense service to us by his importations which far exceeded our highest expectations. I have here nearly half a hundred varieties of =Juglans regia= that are doing well, especially the three Rumanian giants that ripen so well here.

List of Some of the Larger and More Important Trees at Echo Valley, Islington, Ontario

=Black Walnut=
Stambaugh 1926--1st prize.
Thomas from J. F. Jones, late ripener.
Troup, cracks out whole in spring.
Hepler, from Miss Riehl, a long nut.
Elmer Myers, excellent flavor, the thinest shell.
Snyder, medium size, large kernel.
Tasterite, a small nut, origin New York State.
Clark, origin Iowa, very large nut.
Gifford, bears very heavy crop every second year, ripens before
Thomas.

=Persian (English) Walnut=
David Fairchild, seedling Rumanian giant.
Senator Pepper, seedling Rumanian giant.
Paul de Kruif, seedling Rumanian giant.
Chinese, very hardy, medium size.
Broadview, from British Columbia but originally from Russia.

=Hickory=
Neilson, a true shagbark, nut large flat and very thin shell, flavor
is wonderful. A big tree on highway 24 not far south of where
Alexander Graham Bell perfected the telephone.
Hagen, a true shagbark, a fast grower.
Hand, a shagbark.
Weiker, a shellbark and shagbark cross, a large, heavy bearing nut
that ripens here north of Lake Ontario. Excellent flavor, grafted
on pecan.
Papple, a small good shagbark, cracks out whole.
Anthony No. 1 shagbark.
Glover, from Miss Riehl.

=Heartnut=
Wright, a good bearer and excellent cracker.
Stranger, very heavy bearer, excellent cracker.
Gellatly.

=Filbert=
Italian Red, medium long with wide base.
Bollwyller, large round.
Du Chilly, long smooth.
Many seedlings of named varieties.

=Chestnut=
Gibbons, Miss Riehl, hybrid European American.
Chinese, test not completed.

=Jap Butternut=
Helmick, from Miss Riehl, 14 cluster, regular bearer, very thin shell,
grafted on black walnut.

Report from Beamsville, Ontario

LEVI HOUSSER

About twenty years ago I started to plant nut trees, as I decided nuts were the solution to good health, which I later found was correct. Most of my first trees died. I started gathering nuts all over the country until at last, near my own home, I found a neighbor who had ten trees and two out of the ten were bearing large size nuts of an excellent flavor. I also added filberts to my collection.

About this time I learned of Prof. Neilson, so I went to see him in Guelph. He told me about the Northern Nut Growers Association. I also learned about Mr. Corsan and his work at Islington so I went to see him. He also told me about the Association so I went to the next meeting and joined up. I began to add more varieties to my plantings. My first four acre planting was seeded with oats the second year. All my tress had a nice start. I spent some three hundred dollars that year for grafted nut trees. That second fall I hired a man to watch and stand by each tree as the binder passed. It was impossible for me to be there. The man who cut the oats in his own stubborn way went alone and cut everything as he went, trees and all. My heart was nearly broken! I started again. I bought nuts of good varieties from all over. I decided to make a little nursery this time then plant out after the trees got bigger. Just as I got this started nicely the war came. I also had a fruit farm where I now live besides also planting some grafted stock here. My nursery, seventy-eight miles away on my fifty acres, I had to leave as gas was rationed and I was forced to sell, so remaining there are about one hundred trees which I shall watch. My best trees died but I kept going on planting every year. Today, after all the calamities I had, I have around two hundred trees living.

This year I expect two bushels of heartnuts; about two bushels of filberts; some extra nice ones that ripened early, large and well filled; about two bushels of black walnuts, some very promising. Besides these I have about fifty trees of the Carpathian walnuts from which I have gathered about two quarts of nuts. My oldest tree is ten years old. One I grafted on black walnut stock and it is a very large nut. I gathered five nuts from this. The graft is now five years old. Hundreds of nuts started; nearly all dropped off. Possibly as the tree gets older it will do better as I have planted several other nut trees not far away to help with cross pollination.

I have some good sized butternuts and I gathered about 17 quarts of these so I expect to have enough nuts to supply my daily needs from now on from my own plantings. After twenty years of hard work and with an outlay of at least $1,000, my trees, as they grow up around me, are like children to me. They supply me with food. My nervousness was cured by them and my health has returned.

My worst enemy here with filberts is they start to grow too early, then a frost comes and they are done after a week or two of nice weather. Even though we have this trouble we gathered nearly two bushels from 25 trees which are eight years old.

Our lowest temperature here was 20 below zero a few years ago. My Carpathians did not seem to mind that nor did the heartnuts. From now on I am planning my own little nursery and do my own grafting as well. I top work my young trees that show poor nuts.

Nut Growing in New Hampshire